Improvement in water-wheels



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

.IAOOR LUTHER, OE WALNUT `FORK, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WH EELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37.698, dated February 17, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, J AOOB LUTHER, of Walnut Fork,in the county of Jones and State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved WatenWheel; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip.

-tion of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a vertical section of my invention, taken in the line .r x, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view ofthe same, the lid or cover of the case of the wheel being removed Fig. 3, a detached inverted plan of the wheel.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several iigures.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in horizontal water-wheels of that class in which power is designed to be obtained both from the direct and reacting force of the water in its passage through the wheel. Y

To this end the invention consists in the employment or use oi a series of buckets attached to the verge of the wheel, and formed in such a manner that poweris obtained from the direct action of the water against the buckets, and also by its reacting force as it escapes through the issues.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A represents a penstock, in which the wheel B is placed; and G is a case which encompasses the wheel. This case is composed of two separate parts, c a, of semicircular form, and so disposed or arranged as to have an eccentric position relatively with the wheel., and admit of two induction-passages, b b, at opposite points of the case, as well as two curved water passages, c c, at opposite sides of the wheel, said passages gradually diminishing in width from the inductionopenings to their inner ends, the latter being close to the buckets, as shown in Fig. 2. The parts a a of the case are covered by a lid, d, through the center of which the wheel-shaft D passes vertically, the lower end of said shaft being stepped on a point, E, placed in a cross-bar, F, which is attached to the under side of the penstock A. The wheel B is formed of a circular head or body, e, the thickness or height of which is equal to the desired height or length of the buckets, and the latter are attached to the verge or periphery of the head or body e of the wheel. The Wheel, including the buckets, is fitted in a circular opening, f, made in the bottom g of the penstock A, the outer edges of the buckets just clearing the edge of the opening f. (See more particularly Fig. l.)

G represents the buckets, which may be described as being formed of three parts, h ij, the central part, h., being in a vertical position and tangential with the shaft D. The upper parts, t', of the buckets are curved, so as to have a concave face side, and the lower parts, j, are also curved, so as to have concave tace sides. The lower parts, j, are made longer than the upper parts, t', extending from the center of the height ofthe wheel all along the space between the buckets, the lower end of the part j of one bucket extending under the back part of the bucket immediately in front of it, as shown in Fig. l. The lower parts, j, of the buckets have such a pitch that the space or issue formed between the lower end, j, of. one bucket and the upper.

end,j, of the bucket immediately in front of it will be quite small in area, so that the induction will be greater than the discharge, and thereby keep the case C full of water `at all times. The water acts directly or by impact against the central and upper parts, h t', of the buckets, and reacts upon or against the lower parts, j, in escaping through the issues or spaces between the lower parts, j, the latter force being obtained chiefly by gravity.

The invention has been practically tested, and operates well, giving a large percentage ot' the power of the water.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The buckets G, constructed as described, so as to have at their face sides three dit'- ferent surfaces, h t 7', and attached to the verge or periphery of the head or body e of the wheel,in combination with the case C, formed of two parts, a a, arranged or disposed relatively with the wheel, as shown, so as to form two water induction passages, b band two curved taper water-passages, o c, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

JACOB LUTHER. Witnesses:

ELI WALKER, WILLIAM F. POTTER. 

